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FROM
THE EAST
My brothers, the
year’s end grows near. We have elected a new Worshipful
Master to lead us. I want to wish Worshipful Brother Bill, Ed
and Fred the very best for this next year. It has been my great
pleasure to have served as your Master for this past year. We
should all take great pride in the progress that has been
achieved this past year. We initiated 3 new Masons and brought
back 2 more to continue their degrees. Two of these new brothers
have recently been passed to the degree of a Fellow Craft. Most
importantly, all are local residents who can take on a more
active role in our Lodge in the years to come.
As I travel and visit
the several lodges throughout the state, I continue to remark on
the warm fellowship and brotherhood of all I meet with. White
Mountain #3 stands tall in such “high” company as a
loving lodge of brothers who all enjoy each other’s company
and have the highest ideals of our fraternity firmly implanted
within their breasts. This observation is confirmed by the
comments we receive from our visiting brethren.
This next year
promises to be a big one for White Mountain #3 and Masonry
overall in the state. The Most Worshipful Grand Master has asked
me if and when we plan to conduct another “Search for the
Charter.” MW Brother Michael Bishop would like to be a
part of this very fun event. New Mexico holds its Grand
Communication in March of each year. Even though the time is
short, it would be great to hold such an event prior to their
next Grand Communication to “liven up” the continuing
saga of our misplaced charter. Let’s think about it and
see if we can make it happen in 2010.
Also, the annual Grand
Lodge Leadership Conferences are coming up next month. Again,
there will be 3 different conferences held on the following dates
and locations:
JAN 9 Scottish Rite
Temple Tucson
JAN 16 El Zaribah
Shrine Phoenix
JAN 30 Flagstaff
Lodge #7 Flagstaff
This year the Grand
Master has invited ALL Masons (Entered Apprentices and above),
all appendant bodies (Scottish Rite, York Rite, Shrine, Grotto)
and accordant bodies (Eastern Star, Beauceant, Amaranth, etc.)
and youth groups (DeMolay, Job’s Daughters and Rainbow
Girls) to attend. Even though the first session in Tucson is
scheduled on the same date as our Stated Meeting, there are two
others that you can attend. I can assure you that you will be
all the better for having attended one of these. Check with W
Bro Paul Dore to obtain a registration form and send it in right
away.
Again, thank you for
all your support. May God bless you all and your families.
Bill Garrard, WM 2009
FROM THE SOUTH
Brothers,
I wish to thank
all my Brothers for their continued confidence in me. It is again
an honor to be Mater of White Mountain Lodge #3 although I was
hoping to be Ed's Senior Warden. Ed needs a little more time in
meeting the lecture requirements of the Grand Lodge but I'm
confident that he will meet it next year and I'm looking forward
to his leadership. I'm looking forward to this year because of
it's bright future. We have more Brothers in the degree cycle
than at any other time in the last decade and beyond. We have
brothers that are eager to advance in the progressive line, and
we have an opportunity to once again have fellowship with our
Brothers in New Mexico. Yes, we are once again going to host a
“Search for the Charter” at White Mountain. MW
Michael Bishop, GM of AZ and the Grand Master of New Mexico are
eager to square off once again at Globe to squabble over the
failed return of White Mountain's charter and provide the kind of
fellowship that can be only be found between White Mountain Lodge
and the Grand Lodge of another District. Our heritage is sort of
unique and there will always be a strong bond between White
Mountain Lodge and the Grand Lodge who gave us our first charter,
New Mexico. I will need a lot of support in making this a truly
memorable event. There is a very short fuse because the timetable
is such that we need to do it in March because of New Mexico's
Grand Lodge in April. Anyone willing to be part of the committee,
please let me know. We will need chairmans for food, lodging,
activities, badging, flyers, etc. plus workers for the
committees. This is a great way to become active in the lodge if
you haven't made it back in a while.
For those of you
who are or where Royal Arch Masons, there is interest in the
lodge to bring back a Royal Arch Chapter to the lodge. For those
interested in re-instating your membership or those Master Masons
who would wish to continue their masonic education and discover
the lost lost Master's Word, please let our Secretary or myself
know.
Once again,
thank all of you and those that we haven't seen for awhile,
please come back and take part of the continuance of the re-birth
of White Mountain Lodge #3. We will continue to support our
public schools along with our law enforcement and firefighters
this year. We are always looking for individual support in the
purchase of bicycles for the schools and our charitable
endeavors. Thanks to all who have provided support in the past.
Our schools, more than ever, are in need of your help and
support. My lovely wife, Sharon, is in her second year of
teaching in the Roosevelt school district in Phoenix which is a
Title 1A district and she see everyday the need that is needed
in our public schools. She sees parents who don't discipline
their kids and don't see the need for education. More and more
kids need role models to look up to and too often these role
models are athletes who are increasing very bad role roles. They
need us, men who have high ideals and moral conduct. We need to
put ourselves out there as one's who care and who they can look
up to.
Bill
Greenen, Master-Elect
Secretary's
Desk
Grand Lodge
Scholarship
Applications for the 2010-2011 Grand
Lodge Scholarships are now available from Paul J Dore,
secretary, announces; the Worshipful
Master elect William
Greenen. The deadline for
completing the application -- along with other required documents
-- is March 1, 2010. The completed application and with
other
documents are to be submitted to the Lodge Secretary by
that date.
Applications must meet one of the following
criteria: be the son, daughter, grandson, or granddaughter of an
Arizona Master Mason, or be an Arizona
member (or an Arizona
senior/majority member) of DeMolay, Rainbow for Girls or Job's
Daughters. Applicants must be single, planning to attend
an
Arizona public
university or community college.
A First Degree
scheduled for January
9,2010. Kenneth Stone's ( a member of White
Mountain Lodge #3),grandson.
Grand
Lodge Leadership conference January
16th -- El Zaribah Shrine Phoenix January 16, 2010.
Registration will begin with coffee and donuts at 7:30 AM.
The
session will begin at 9 AM and planned to end by 4 PM.
Lunch will be served to all registrants.
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2010 Officers
Worshipful
Master Bill Greenen, KYCH (480-510-4241)
Senior
Warden Earl Warner (928-425-7715)
Junior
Warden Fred
Marquardt (602-575-4946)
Secretary Paul
Dore' Sr, KYCH (602-920-0456)
Treasurer
Scott Teichrow, PM (928-425-8293)
Senior
Deacon Jerry Bubois (928-595-2386)
Junior
Deacon Art Salcido Jr.(928-402-8242)
Chaplain
Ralph Gerhardt, PM
Marshall
Harold Benjamin, PM
Senior Steward Dell
Long 520-297-7656
Junior
Steward Howard Billingsley, KYCH (928-472-9354)
Tyler
Doug Skowron, KYCH
Trustees:
William
Garrard, KYCH, 2014
Howard
Billingsley, KYCH, 2013
Earl
Warner
2012
Robert
Gillette, PM 2011
Harold
Benjamin,
PM, 2010
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 O.E.S.
#8 Luncheon
December
12th
Guaynos
on the Trail
Committees
Public Schools - Ed
Warner
Widows
- Ed Warner
Education - W. Howard
Billingsley
By-Laws - MW Oscar Lyon
Jr.
Membership - WB. Doug
Skowron
Community Events - Art
Salcido
“Search For The Charter” - TBD
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Enjoy the following article by Brother Roger A.
Kessinger, MPS
"Death is but a passage. It is not a
house, it is only a vestibule. The grave has a door on its inner
side." Alexander Maclaren - 1826-1910, British
Preacher
Hiram Had To Die--And So Must You
by Roger
A. Kessinger, MPS
Hiram had to die--and so must you. Why?
Because the fate of Hiram Abiff is the story of all mankind and
of all Masons. The life of Hiram reveals many lessons but his
death teaches the most significant. Listen to the story and its
message for you.
Hiram is an initiate. This means he was a
man, who, of his own free will and accord, entered upon a path of
study and action which taught him how to live a proper life to be
acceptable to God. But God is unwilling to accept any man until
he offers up a sacrifice: not of blood, not of money, but of
something far greater in value—himself. Man must sacrifice
himself if he is to permanently unite with God and remain in his
kingdom from whence he was banished. How is this accomplished?
Only by death.
The initiate must die to the corruptions of
his outer self and be reborn to the divinity of his inner self,
or soul. This means that his whole perception must be radically
changed to accommodate his new life--the spiritual life. He must
realize that physical life is only a temporary phenomenon whose
sole purpose is to reveal the existence of a higher state of
being--spiritual immortality, and that although this spiritual
existence is promised to everyone, it must be earned here and
now. The initiate accomplishes this mission by correcting his
thoughts, words, and actions (or deeds). This alone makes him
acceptable to God.
Hiram subdued his own passions, by
thinking proper thoughts, speaking acceptable words, and
performing exemplary deeds. Allegorically, this happened when he
was struck in the chest (the seat of the passions), throat (the
place of words), and head (the center of thoughts). The latter
"killed" him. The three fellowcrafts were not assassins
but spiritual principles: spiritual force, spiritual power, and
spiritual will.
But what was it that was killed? It wasn't
the man himself, it was his outer nature. It wasn't his physical
body, it was his physical nature. Death didn't send him to the
cold, dark, depths of the grave but raised him to the brilliant
sunshine of Light & Illumination. His "death" gave
him life.
The acacia tree provides further testimony to
help Masons understand this seeming paradox. After the death of
the outer nature the true nature of the inner man still survives.
Why? Because our purpose here on earth is to discover and unite
with this Godly nature within us. The bible speaks of this when
it refers to the marriage of the lamb, bride, or groom.
Masons!
This is the true purpose of Freemasonry: To square the rough
ashlar and thus attain spiritual perfection! This can only be
accomplished by the death of our outer, or crude, rough animal
natures, which creates a refined spiritual and mental
existence.
Only by being free from debasing influences
will you truly be a Freemason: free from vanity, fear, religious
dogma, greed, hate, lust, jealousy, and in general, free from all
of the errors that chain the spiritual existence.
Until
you accomplish this most difficult task, you will only be a
Mason, not a Freemason.
So you see, Hiram had to die--and
so must you. Salve fraters.
"Death is not a period,
but a comma in the story of life." Amos Traver
Words
to live by: Life is a dream walking - death is a going home.
Chinese Proverb
"After your death you will be what
you were before your birth." Arthur Schopenhauer
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Cline
W. Armstrong